1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a unified video camera and video cassette recording and/or reproducing apparatus (VCR), and more particularly is directed to the provision of such unified video camera and VCR which is compact and light in weight so as to be conveniently portable.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a typical unified video camera and VCR, a video camera unit and a VCR unit are contained in a common housing or hollow body. It will be appreciated that, for controlling the operations of the video camera and the VCR, it is usual to provide numerous control switches or buttons which are positioned at the surface of the body for easy access thereto. For example, for controlling the operations of the video camera, it is usual to provide a focus control button, power zoom control buttons, a shutter speed select button, a white balance control button, a fader button and a back-light button. For controlling the operations of the VCR, it is usual to provide a recording button, a playback button, a pause button, a fast-forward button and a rewinding button. For ease in selectively actuating the various switches or buttons provided for controlling operations of the video camera and VCR, it is desirable that the buttons or other switch actuating members to be engaged by the operator's fingers have sufficient surface areas and be sufficiently spaced apart on the exterior of the hollow body or housing. Accordingly, in providing a compact unified video camera and VCR, for example, of a size equivalent to that of a passport so that it can be readily cradled in the operator's hand, difficulty is encountered in arranging the various operation controlling switches or buttons on the available surface area of the small housing or body. The foregoing difficulty is increased by the presence of substantial dead space of unusable surface area on the housing or hollow body. For example, the VCR typically includes a cassette holder which is mounted for movement between a loading position and an eject position projecting beyond the normal external contours of the housing or body. By reason of such movement, the surface area corresponding to the extent of the cassette holder is usually considered dead or unusable space for the location of the controlling switches or buttons. Furthermore, in the case of a unified video camera and VCR of the type intended to be held or cradled in the palm of the operator's hand, a strap is usually provided along, and is spaced from a side surface of the body so that the operator' s hand can be extended between the strap and the underlying surface of the housing or body. Since the surface of the body underlying the strap has force applied thereto when the unified camera and VCR is handled or cradled in the operator's hand, such area of the housing is also considered dead space, that is, unsuitable for the placement of control switches or buttons thereat. Thus, a substantial proportion of the surface area of the housing or body of the known unified video camera and VCR is dead space, so that reduction of the overall size of the housing is limited by the need to ensure that the remaining surface area of the housing will be sufficient for the convenient location of the various required control switches and buttons thereon.
It is further known to provide a unified video camera and VCR with a viewfinder through which the image being recorded can be readily monitored. Typically, a cathode-ray tube (CRT) is used in an electronic viewfinder for displaying the image being received by an image pick-up device in the video camera. An electronic viewfinder of the type using a CRT screen usually requires a relatively large space therefor, with the result that the viewfinder tends to project beyond the housing or body of the unified video camera and VCR and thereby further resists reduction of the overall size of the device.